Over the years, there have been many inventions and attempts made to mask bathroom or kitchen odors and the files are replete with patents that deal with dispensers, paper holders, spindles and odorous fragrance carriers. Many of these inventions are elaborate, even motor driven, battery operated, complicated and costly devices. Producers of commercial toilet paper have attempted to address this issue by adding a dose of fragrance on the inside of the tube carrying the tissue. This works quite well, but there are several drawbacks: For one, fragrance can dissipate over time in distribution before it reaches the end customer. Secondly, increasing the fragrance load or dosage to compensate for this loss is only possible to some extent, given the issue of multiple chemical sensitivity and allergies; if the tissue paper carries too much fragrance, skin sensitivity and rashes could develop from repeated skin contact. Thirdly, while some customers may like some pre-scented aromas, others may object to a particular fragrance. This limits the marketability of pre-scented tissue papers. Fragrance is therefore almost never found on kitchen towels where it may be used for food contact. Many people therefore also choose to buy unscented toilet tissue and rely on other fragrance air freshener devices in the bathroom.
Various styles of air freshener systems have been available in the prior art. An example can be seen in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,310 to Konicek, which describes a door activated air freshener system that uses motion control valves to deposit fragrance onto paper pads within a specially constructed device.
Additional U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,619,383 and 4,615,486 offer additional variations on the door-activated system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,831 to Spector describes an elaborate air-filled device with jet openings and pressurized chambers that when hand actuated, expel a pulse of fragrance into the atmosphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,649 to Monealegre, and also U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,279,373, 4,208,012 and 4,155,500, described a variety of air freshener cartons that are free standing or can be wall mounted and exhibit perforated sleeves, folded flaps or other carton constructions that can be adjusted to allow more or less of a fragranced air freshener material to be released.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,168,550 and 4,209,864 to Lindauer, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,228, to Rosenkrantz, all describe elaborate aroma emitting attachments to the toilet that activate by flushing.
Elaborate paper holder devices for air fresheners have been described in a multitude of patents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,025 to Hixon, describes a multi-purpose toilet tissue dispenser that incorporates a night light, pencil holder, a means for holding an air freshener, and an attachment device for mounting onto a wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,658, to McCall, describes a roll spindle and hand ratchet mechanism that activates a music box, a fragrance dispensing apparatus, an audio tape player, and a night light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,246, to Kantor, describes a toilet roll covering that is wall mounted or free standing and essentially adds an embellishment feature by incorporating a lace pouch that can hold a scented potpourri. Hight, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,696, describes a multi-compartment cabinet for containing storage roll tissue in one compartment and an air freshener device in another compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,621 to Poulos, describes a tissue paper scenting and storage device having a two-part interior chamber sized to accommodate multiple rolls of paper in a sealed environment to preclude malodorous contamination, and also incorporating a ventilated top section that can hold an air freshener that scents the stored tissue paper in the compartment below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,313, to Newbold, describes a pre-moistened toilet paper and dispenser that attaches to a conventional paper roll dispenser or can be separately mounted. This device is closed and allows pre-moistened towels to remain moist and said towels may contain 1% perfume fragrance.
There are also a multitude of prior art inventions that relate to the actual spindle element. U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,102 to Jones, describes a perforated, elongated tubular housing that can contain fragrance material within a central chamber. The patent to Armand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,218, describes a spool for rotatably supporting a roll of toilet paper and dispensing a fragrance from opposed ends of the spool, by compressing and squeezing a fragrance material out of the spool and onto the inner tubing of the paper roll. Singer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,510, describes a similar device that consists of three components: a coiled spring and two plastic molded pieces that are vented and have interlocking tongues and slots which allow the components to be joined. Singer further describes the inclusion of scented pellets within this spindle that can emit fragrance as the spindle is rotated.
The fragrance carrier itself also is the subject matter of many patents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,912, to Santini, describes a membrane-gel diffusion device that allows for the controlled release of fragrance gel through a membrane material.
Johnson Wax is currently marketing a product under the trademark “Spin Fresh,” which involves a fragrance gel membrane product in a custom made vented spindle construction. This product is meant to replace the existing spindles in home paper holders. The fragrance gel load in this product is 4 grams, and the active fragrance load is between 5% and 10%.
All of the above prior art patents are more or less cumbersome to assemble and use. Many are very elaborate and costly to manufacture as they incorporate to varying degrees electric motors, valves, pressurized containers, ratchet handles and gears, electronics, wooden cabinets, batteries, moving parts, injection molded components, springs, mounting brackets, gels, or complicated membrane packaging. The initial cost to purchase and later maintain the refills is relatively high. Many of these devices require assembly and mounting or disassembly or modification of existing tissue and paper roll holders.